Artists' open letter targets ice hockey world championships in Belarus

A group of writers, artists and directors from half a dozen countries have written an open letter condemning the decision to hold the first ever major international sporting event in Belarus, often known as Europe's last dictatorship.

Dozens of people have been arrested in Belarus in recent days in the runup to the ice hockey world championships, which started on Friday and finish on 25 May. The championships are being projected as a personal triumph for President Alexander Lukashenko, a huge ice hockey fan who is celebrating 20 uninterrupted years in office this summer.

"Please do not let yourselves be used by a despot," says the appeal to the hockey players, signed by Tom Stoppard, Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, James Bierman and Janet Suzman, among others. "Join us by showing you do not support the Last Dictator of Europe and that you stand with the people of Belarus by wearing a red and white scarf after the match. These are colours of our national flag that is recognised in Belarus as symbol of resistance."

The protest echoes the calls for athletes to express sympathy for gay and lesbian Russians during the Sochi Olympics.

Lukashenko has been accused of persistent human rights abuses through two decades in power, throwing opposition figures in jail, tolerating no political dissent and developing a cult of personality.

"For him this is like a great party," said Natalia Kaliada, a Belarusian who fled to London three years ago after being arrested, and who helped organise the protest letter. "He is dancing on bones." She noted that Lukashenko was awarded the championship just days after one of his most brutal crackdowns following elections in December 2010.

Lukashenko has toed a delicate line over the years, trying to assert his nation's independence of Russia while conscious of the power that Vladimir Putin holds over him. But the Ukraine situation has upended Lukashenko's geostrategic calculus by demonstrating what can happen if you defy Moscow.

This week he was summoned to Moscow and emerged on Friday with a $2bn loan to help Belarus through a deepening economic crisis. The two countries will formally launch an economic union along with Kazakhstan this month.

"Now Lukashenko is in a very vulnerable position because Ukraine shows that if he doesn't obey Russia then Putin will look to military threats, military force and he can remove him by stopping his subsidies and his oil supplies," said Andrei Sannikov, an opposition leader detained for more than a year after the 2010 election.

The protest echoes the calls for athletes to express sympathy for gay and lesbian Russians during the Sochi Olympics. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters

The full letter

Open Letter to all Ice Hockey Players who are taking part in the World Cup of Ice Hockey in Belarus:

We are artists writing to athletes, asking you to take a moment to consider the political situation of the country where the Ice Hockey World Championships is taking place.

Alexander Lukashenko is known as "Europe's Last Dictator". Belarusians have lived for 20 years under Lukashenko's regime, and have faced torture, kidnapping and murder, intimidation and harassment for speaking out against his inhumane laws and regulations.

Lukashenko has created a publicity campaign with the slogan: "Big ice hockey supports Alexander Lukashenko". We do not believe that. We believe ice hockey players support freedom and human rights. Please do not let yourselves be used by a despot. Join us by showing you do not support the Last Dictator of Europe and that you stand with the people of Belarus by wearing a red and white scarf after the match. These are colors of our national flag that is recognized in Belarus as symbol of resistance.

On 21st of December, of 2010 after a bloody crackdown of a peaceful rally when citizens of Belarus went to protest against falsification of elections, seven of us started the campaign with a slogan "Don't Play with Dictators". Those people included a unique person the late Vaclav Havel, a playwright and dissident born under a communist dictatorship who went on to be President of a free Czechoslovakia.

We ask you to show the Belarusian people that the courage and strength you show in your sport is not blind, and to join them by demonstrating your opposition a regime that violates human rights. This simple act of support would give millions strength in a time of political turmoil, just as the brave actions of athletes at Mexico in 1968 and Sochi in 2014, touched countless of people around the world.

We are not in a position of executive power, but we believe by uniting as artists and athletes we can make a difference simply by showing the Belarusian people that we value human rights and freedom and that we stand with them. We have a moral authority and it should not be misused by dictators for their own aims.

Belarus has been frozen in time. Its people have no opportunity under its Soviet style dictatorship. The recent invasions of the Ukraine by Russia means that the entire region is in danger of returning to the austere times of the Soviet Union.

Artists and athletes have a responsibility to make voices heard on behalf of those who are silenced, not as athletes or as artists, but as fellow human beings.

You are people of strong will and action. Usually it's the fans who show their support for you, now it's your turn to support them.

Put a white-red-white scarf on when you get on the ice. The red represents courage and white represents compassion. The scarf will demonstrate to the fans that you recognize the dictator for who he really is, and show that you stand behind the fans. Wearing the scarf will give them courage and let them know that their voices are heard.

Sport should be kept out of politics but when its not, athletes must demonstrate that they know what is going on, that they care, and they stand behind their fans in their quest for human rights and freedom.